Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-23
HOBBIES OF RICH MEN.
Some Costly Pleasures Which Only
the MiIIionaires Can Afford flag
Ier's Million Dollar Hotel.
ChiIds' Thirty Thousand Dollars In
Clocks and Millionaire Wh0 Has
Fortune in Orchids
Fast Horses OF Rich Men and the Fortunes
they Spend Upon Them-What Bonner
Has Paid For Noted steeds
[Conyrighted 1881. By the Author

copyrighted 1887. By the Author
The hobbies of rich men! How the
poor mans mouth waters as he thinks of
them! How his eyes bulge cut as he
considers their extravaganza, and his
heart sometimes sWells in discomfort
when he reflects that the fortunes squan-
dered to crafty their whims would make
average millionaire has earned his wealth
and he has right to spend 1t as he
chooses.
l believe the poor get as much good out
of their little hobbies as the rich men do
from their costly ones. The capacity OF
Joy or sorrow is in the man, and not in
the pocketbook, and the dinner served to
the poor collector on the odd bits of
china which he has picked up at second
hand stores, tickles his stomach
just as much as does the feast
of George W. Childs when he
sits down before table service worth
$4,000. The poor mans Old-feshioned
clock, which he bought for $40 atauction,
ticks to him as melodiously as does the
one to Childs which cost him $4,000, and
he gets as much pleasure out of his one
rare flower as Jay Gould does out Of his
$500 orchids.
George W. Childs' hobbies sre many,
and he is so charitable that no one be-
grudges him the money he spends upon
them. He has, it is said, $4,000 worth
of clocks, and one of his clocks cost him
to Prince Napoleon. 1t weighs two tons,
ND &c Nil ;-h rs
clocks belonged to David Rittenhouse,
and it cost $640 in 1867, when it wss
made. He has French clock which cost
over $500, and it is made of marble and
bronze.
Autographs form another of Childs'
hobbies, and he has, perhaps, the finest
autograph collection in the United States
He has original manuscripts and letters
from nearly every noted statesman in the
world, and his autograph collection en-
braces about 10000 names. Like most OF
the rich autograph collectors Of to-day,
he does not care tor mere signatures, and
q Letter, to be OF value, must contain some
sentiment characteristic of the writer
Among his letters are some from Charles
Dickens. Thomas Hood, Nathaniel Hsw-
thorne and others. Many of them ere di-
recteQ to Mr.. Childs himself, and every
one Of them is worth many times its
weight in gold. He mas the autographs OF
all the Presidents, beginning with the last
letter which General Washington ever
wrote, and these autographs are bound
into book with 4 Presidents portrait op
eeCh page and sn sutographic letter of his
on the page opposite.
He has many fine pictures. and all rich
men are noted as being lobbyists in pic
ture collection. Gould, the Vauderbilts,
George I. Seney, and w. T. Walters OF
Baltimore, own many rare paintings, and
Walters bought the other day little pic.
ture, not more than eight by ten inches
in size, which cost him $1,000. Corco-
rams best pictures are In thesCorcorap
gallery, and the galleries Of the country
will in the future get the best OF the pri-
vste collections now in existence. Great
fortunes do not last long in America, and
the auCtioneer's hammer or the pawn
broker finally gets the cos!ilest and the
best.
Oae of the curious hobbies Of rich men
is that of the Standard Oil millionaire
Flagler. l was told at Cleveland, from
whence Mr.. Flagler comes, that from his
earliest days he has had an ambition to
keep hotel, and the offspring of this de.
sire now crops out in the $1,000, 900 hotel
which he is now building in Florida
This hotel IS located at st. Augustine
It will cover four acres Of ground, and il
makes me think OF the palaces of the
Doges at Venice. It is the finest hote
in the United States, but Flagler is s.iC
to be worth at least S25. 900, 900, and he
| can afford it.
Erastus Cornine's hobbies are butter.
flies and orchids. He has one of the
largest collections CT butterflies in the
United States. There ere 50, 600 Of them
and he has been fifteen years gathering
hem together.
| Deacon White, the millionaire Of Wal
street, who is now in Congress, in add
zion TO being en- grt collector, is star
gGzsr. He has an observatory on the TOP
OF his house in Brooklyn, ana his hobby
is astronomy and amateur telegraphy. j
| Fl Wade Of Cleveland is another ricE
man who likes to talk by telegraph, enc
who in addition to his other accomplish
! men.S boasts Of taking the first daguer-
| reotype taken west of the Allegheny
! mountains. Senator John Kenna of Yves
! Virginia, though not worth quite mill
! ion, is rich, and he dotes on emsteu,
photography; while Pierre Lorrillard. thu
rich tobaccoDist, SPENDS fortunes OF
horses and dogs, and makes hobby O
| pheasalts and chickens.
Senator Tom Palmer OF Michigan has
hobby in his Jersey COWS and Percheroi
horses. His butter costs him about 50
pound, but he has the proud satisfaction
Of knowing that he raises it himself Hi
Jersey COWS are imported from Europe
going there TO pick out the animals, snt
be is president Of the Percheron Hors
Society Of the United States, and ha
h0rses.in his stable which it would tax
several times q Congressman's salary t
buy. His wife he's some of the fines
dogs in the country, sDd her Blenhelr
spaniels are SO delicate THAT they have t
be fed with 8 spoon, and they have no
! their sIperlors in the world. Another @
Palmes's hobbies is his log house az
farm near Detroit. He has spent 500, 90
in improving the farm, and the log bous
cos. Sl2,00 TO build. There is lake il
front of it which WAS dug with pick an
shovel, and stesm engine Is CONSTANT
employed in pumping the stream whic
makes the waterfall which fills it.
Roscoe Conkling's hobby has bee
athletics, and he has gymnasium in hi
house. When he was Senator in WASH
ington he got Matt Carpenter to try
round of boxing with him, and punishe
him terribly. Matt said nothing, but
few DAYS later called With friend @
herculesn proportions. He proposed I
Conkling that his friend take look ct tn
gymnasiums, and Conkling gladly cor
Soptod RI taxa hoy with the GtrsDoer